EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips’ new rallying cry: I need more cowbell.
More cowbell?
“I think we need a lot more cowbell right now,” right wing Barry Horman said with a laugh.
The rallying cry has gone so far as to cause a change in the music playlist during Silvertips games at the Everett Events Center.
The new cry originated during the team’s 11-hour bus rides to and from Prince George two weekends ago. During the trip, one of the videos shown was the Will Ferrell Best of Saturday Night Live, and one skit in particular had the players rolling in the aisles.
In that skit, Ferrell is enthusiastically playing a cowbell during the studio recording of the Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” As band members grew irritated at Ferrell’s cowbell, actor Christopher Walken, playing the role of producer, entered the studio and pronounced, “I gotta have more cowbell, baby!” and later, “I gotta fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!”
The Silvertips watched the video several times during the trip.
“It got the team going on the bus,” Riley Armstrong said. “Everyone was laughing and that was kind of like the big thing to do, ‘Need more cowbell, baby.’”
In response to the team’s obsession with the skit, the coaches arranged for the team’s introductory song at games to be changed from U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” to “Don’t Fear the Reaper” – without the team’s knowledge. When it was first played last Saturday before to the Silvertips’ 4-1 victory over Kamloops, the players had a hard time keeping a straight face coming onto the ice.
“Certain players have their spot in line when they go on the ice and I’m usually one of the last ones to come on,” John Dahl said. “I was walking down the aisle and suddenly heard that song and I had to give my head a little bit of a shake because I was trying to get ready for the game. The guys got a pretty good kick out of it and it was that Saturday night game (against Kamloops), so I guess it didn’t bother us too much.”
Now the team is encouraging fans to bring cowbells to games and participate in the introductions.
Injury update: The Silvertips’ injury problems are beginning to subside, and just in time.
Everett dressed just 18 players – the team is allowed to dress 20 – in its 2-0 loss to Prince George on Tuesday. But with some players getting healthy again, the Silvertips should at least be able to field a full squad tonight as they begin a stretch of 14 games in 24 days.
Forwards Riley Armstrong and Tyler Dietrich and defenseman Devin Wilson should be ready to go tonight. Armstrong is back after being given a week off to rest minor injuries. Dietrich will try to make his third comeback from shoulder injuries. Wilson is healthy again after sitting out the Prince George game because of the flu.
Two players remain long-term casualties. Forward Chad Bassen is likely out for the remainder of the regular season with a knee injury and defenseman Cody Thoring is out indefinitely while awaiting the results of a magnetic resonance imaging test on his knee.
The Silvertips also have called up forward Mitchell Ruminski to provide cover this weekend. Ruminski, a 16-year-old from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who traveled with the team to its preseason tournament in Kennewick, has 22 points in 27 games for his Midget team.
Scouting report: Tonight’s game is the first of back-to-back games between Everett (24-20-7-1) and Vancouver (23-19-8-5). They play tonight in Vancouver and Saturday night in Everett.
Vancouver has put the brakes on a skid that saw the Giants lose 10 straight. The Giants are coming off a 2-1 overtime victory over Seattle on Wednesday and are 5-1 since the losing streak. As a result, Vancouver is back atop the scramble for second place in the B.C. Division, though just four points separate the Giants from last-place Prince George.
Vancouver’s turnaround can be attributed in large part to solving its goaltending crisis. Nineteen-year-old Aaron Sorochan (14-10-7, 2.56 goals-against average, .912 save percentage) has emerged as the No. 1, giving up just nine goals while starting Vancouver’s last six games.
Nineteen-year-old center Adam Courchaine leads Vancouver’s offense and is tied for eighth in the WHL with 65 points (30 goals, 35 assists). Everett’s biggest nemesis has been rookie center Gilbert Brule, who (20 goals, 25 assists) is considered one of the top 16-year-olds in the world. He has scored four goals in the teams’ three meetings this season, helping the Giants win two.
Opponent: Vancouver Giants
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, B.C.
Radio: KRKO (1380 AM)
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